Throughout his presidency at Murray State University, future SIU president Randy Dunn interacted well with students and faculty, but could not connect with the Board of Regents.

Dunn started at Murray State in May 2006 after being hired by the Board of Regents by a 7-4 vote. Tim Miller, interim president and director of the Murray State University Foundation, said Dunn was the best candidate for the position.

“At that time I believe he was a State Superintendent of Education in Illinois,” Miller said. “I think he had done a very good job in state government, had a good reputation and I think the faculty and staff liked him at the time.”

Chad Lampe, assistant station manager and news director at WKMS, Murray State’s NPR Station, said Dunn was accessible and got students involved in the community.

Lampe said Murray State staff congress, students and the Faculty Senate supported Dunn, according to a university survey. He had a nearly 75 percent approval rating among the students, yet the Student Regents voted against his contract renewal. Jeremiah Johnson, president of the Student Government Association, had no comment on Dunn.

Miller said one of Dunn’s strengths as president was his fundraising ability. He generated $71 million for the “Hold Thy Banner High” campaign in 2012, surpassing the original goal of $60 million.

Miller said Dunn was heavily involved with student life at Murray State, but always expressed a desire to be back in Illinois.

“In his president duties, often times at a ball game he would go over and sit in the band and play the trombone, and his wife would sing the national anthem,” Miller said. “When I first heard that Glenn Poshard was going to step down, I told several of my friends that I bet Dr. Dunn would be the next president.”

While students and faculty vastly supported Dunn, he was unable to survive board politics.

“What really hurt Randy Dunn was his relationship with the board,” Lampe said.

On March 15, the Murray State Board of Regents voted not to renew Dunn’s contract by a 7-4 vote. Miller said he is not sure why the board chose not to renew Dunn’s contract, and Dunn carried out his time as president until July.

“I think, just from hearing — well from what I’ve read in the papers — that I think Dr. Dunn had applied for some positions without informing the board about it,” he said.

In October of 2010, Dunn applied for president of the University of Tennessee. The Tennessee Board of Regents transparently published names of many candidates. Dunn made it to the top 15.

“I think that’s where the relationship started to sour there,” Lampe said.

Dunn also applied for the Florida Commissioner of Education position in December 2012 and the Illinois State University presidential search in 2013.

In an interview with Lampe on WKMS, Dunn said his relationship with the board was based on “a classic difference of philosophies.”

Dunn could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

During a Kentucky Educational Television broadcast from April 12 with host Ferrell Wellman, Lampe said, “There wasn’t a vote planned for that quarterly meeting; there was nothing on the agenda. The board chairman, Constantine Curris, who is a former Murray State president, brought up voting on President Dunn’s contract under the guise of other business on the agenda.”

“The Board wishes to continue handling this decision in a professional manner,” Curris said in an email Friday. “Inasmuch as neither the SIU governing board nor the search firm it employed contacted me as Chair of the Murray State Governing Board to inquire as to the reasons for the non-renewal of his contract, it would be inappropriate to discuss those matters at this time.”

Lampe said after the March meeting, he was informed the board met the night before to discuss Dunn’s renewal.

“That next day I called Dr. Curris and asked him, ‘Did you guys get together the night before the meeting?’ And he said, ‘Well, there was a social gathering of five to six regents at a regent’s home,’” he said.

All but one board member present at the social gathering voted against Dunn.

After notice of the meeting became public, a complaint was filed with the Kentucky Attorney’s General office, which deemed the meeting an illegal violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Jack Rose, a faculty regent during this time, said the meeting was held at Sharon Green’s home. Green is the chair of Enrollment Management and Student Success on the Murray State Board of Regents.

Rose said he was not invited to the meeting and would not have attended if he were.

“It’s my opinion that Dr. Curris wanted as many votes as he could get to not renew Dr. Dunn’s contract,” he said. “To me (the meeting) was either — it had to demonstrate to me a level of arrogance or a level of not understanding the law.”

Steve Beshear, the governor of Kentucky and Attorney General at the time of the violation, stepped in.

“Dr. Curris and the governor of Kentucky are probably closer than most brothers,” he said. “The attorney general slapped their hands but they just basically ignored it. I think again it’s all intertwined in our political system in Kentucky.”

After the vote was voided, the Murray State Board of Regents voted again. They stood by their decision to not renew Dunn’s contract.

Prior to the original contract vote meeting, Rose filed an application for re-election to be a faculty regent. He resigned as a faculty regent directly after the vote to effectively dismiss Dunn.

“The issue about their illegal meeting had not come up in the (voting) meeting,” Rose said. “And I felt the only way that it could get the attention that it needed — and so at the very end I made this statement: ‘I just hope there has not been inappropriate behavior on any part of this board prior to this meeting.’”

Miller’s contract as interim president ends June 30. Murray State will name a new president in March.

“We have gone through what I call political — I hate to use this word — but political shenanigans when hiring a president here for I don’t know how long,” Rose said.

After the second non-renewal, Dunn was hired as the president of Youngstown State University the very same day, May 10.

Tyler Dixon contributed to this story. 

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter at @LukeNozicka, or 536-3311 ext. 268.